Hope Remains
by TerraZeal
Summary: General Nazgrim and Admiral Taylor friendship fic. No slash, but you can read it that way if you want. Nazgrim and Taylor respect each other in combat and form an odd friendship. The Sha of Doubt doesn't understand why it lost it's hold over the ones who summoned it in the first place.


_**AN: **Admiral Taylor respects General Nazgrim as a worthy opponent. But is that really all they have together? No slash, just friendship. Taylor and Nazgrim are the most honorable characters I've seen in this expack so far and seem to have a friend/enemy relationship. Semi-AU Sha speculation._

_**Hope Remains**_

Admiral Taylor looked around the inn in irritation. Pandaren were very hospitable, but apparently TOO hospitable. He noted that orc, General Nazgrim, lying injured on a bedroll above the main room in the inn. _The pandaren should have just let him die. They do not know of the atrocities committed by the Horde! _**Really? Why don't you kill him then? He's completely defenseless, armorless...a sitting duck, Admiral...**Taylor shook his head. Where did that come from? Those...dishonorable thoughts.

And yet, it was the truth. He should kill the orc, prevent even more barbaric Horde murders before they had a chance to get started. His Prince had been held captive by this green monkey. Nazgrim deserved to die just for that. Treason, high treason against the kingdom of Stormwind. The ultimate act of war crime beyond outright murder. Kidnapping royalty deserved death.

Admiral Taylor crept slowly up the stairs, trying not to wake the sleeping orc general. It was hard in heavy plate armor, but he managed it. The orc really was badly injured and out of it. Taylor had barely scraped by with his own life, but apparently his healers were more adept than Nazgrim's and he was fully healed, comparatively speaking. He stood over the orc, silently drawing his sword.

**What are you waiting for, Admiral? Do it. Kill him. NOW! **Taylor hesitated. The voice said do it. The voice was his own mind, wasn't it? He raised the sword above his head, readying himself for the blow. _He's defenseless. This is not honorable combat. This is slaughter. Will this not make you as bad as you THINK the orc is? _A different voice, different thoughts?

This time, feminine, peaceful._ At least wake him. Give him the chance to defend himself. His actions may surprise you._ The peaceful thoughts faded, along with the ones urging him to murder a defenseless person. Taylor was lowering his sword when it suddenly connected with a sharp clang to another blade.Taylor closed his eyes. So the orc was awake, then? At least, if a fight broke out, this gave him free reign to kill him.

The human Admiral eyed the orc. Nazgrim's dark eyes bored into Taylor's.

"Kill me, human, if you dare. Injured I may be, but I won't go down without a fight." The orc smiled. It looked more like a leer on his barbaric green face.

Taylor staunchly sheathed his sword. "I don't kill those who cannot defend themselves properly."

The orc laughed. "I will slice your head from your shoulders, human!" Nazgrim stood, still shaky on his feet, and raised the shiny black-red blade Taylor had seen earlier.

_Your fight brought the Sha of Doubt into the Jade Forest. Do you want it to return here? _Taylor blinked. The peaceful, feminine voice again. Whether the thoughts belonged to him or to one of the mysterious Sha, it didn't matter. The voice was right. No Sha of Doubt would sully this peaceful place. He turned to the orc and threw his silver-gold blade at the orc's feet.

"Then slay me if you will. Whatever happens here, there will be no Doubt. I will die without Doubt, Anger, or Fear within me." The human stared steadily into the orc's dark eyes, gleaming with what was no doubt bloodlust.

Nazgrim wrinkled his brow in confusion. This human would would willingly die? Was this some sort of...Light and Honor thing? No, this man was no paladin. There was no Light here, only...honor. The human had honor. Nazgrim lowered his own blade, throwing it to the floor. It clinked as it hit the human's blade. Gold and red shimmered in his eyes. An odd combination of colors, but not too unpleasing.

"You have honor, for a human. If I couldn't see your face, I might think you an orc. You even fight like one." Nazgrim sat back down on the bedroll, grunting in pain from his injuries. He stared up at the human. The human's grey eyes were resigned, but not angry or upset.

Taylor knew Nazgrim did not mean to insult him. Anyone who'd ever heard of Garrosh Hellscream would know that being told by another orc that you 'fight like an orc' was a compliment. Taylor bit back his own biting reply, replacing it with a simple, "Thank you...General Nazgrim. You, too, were...are...a worthy opponent."

Taylor hesitated before taking a seat on a nearby cushion. Near the orc, but not too near. Nazgrim was looking at him.

"What now, human? Do we stare at each other until we are ready to try and kill one another again?"

Taylor laughed. "I don't know what to do. This is the longest I've been in any one place with an orc, excepting the great Earth Warder, Thrall himself, but he is hardly an orc anymore, is he?"

Nazgrim's green lips twitched, as if he were trying to smile. "Thrall is no Hellscream, but he is still an orc."

Taylor did not know whether this meant Nazgrim approved of Hellscream or not. The answer was so vague it annoyed him. "Do you wish Thrall were your warchief again, General?"

Nazgrim smiled, baring his tusks more prominently in the process. "No. If Thrall were warchief, would we be here in this backwater island slaughtering the pandarens' enemies for them? I'm an orc, Admiral. I was born to fight. It is what I love to do, what I was born to do. Hellscream made me a general. With Thrall, I was far less."

Taylor nodded. The answer didn't exactly say whether he approved of the pointless bloodshed, but it did show that the green thing liked to fight. Nazgrim shifted a little, his bandages slipping off his chest a bit. Blood seeped out of a wound that hadn't healed yet. Taylor hesitated before offering his assistance.

"Ah...General...if you don't mind...perhaps I can help with the healing?"

The orc snorted. "You're no paladin, Admiral. What do you think you can do that the pandas couldn't?"

Taylor smiled slightly. "I'm actually rather skilled with my hands, and first aid. A lot of fighting teaches you to be very, very good at first aid. Now, please, allow me? I can't fight you until you get better, after all. If you die on me, well...if anyone is killing you, it's me."

The orc laughed, grunted when a sharp spike of pain hit him. "Very well, Admiral...?" He let the question hang.

"You don't know? Taylor. Admiral Taylor." The human hesitantly held out a hand. To his surprise, thick green fingers closed over it, clasping it with strength, but not the bone-crushing strength he'd known some orcs possessed.

"General Nazgrim, as if you didn't already know when you were sneaking up here to kill me in my sleep. And when you addressed me as such." The orc was still smiling. "Get on with the healing then, huma-Taylor."

Taylor swung his enchanted bag on the floor and managed to find several strong, heavy-duty bandages. He unwound the fabric slowly and carefully before finally making his way to the orc. Taylor placed one of his own hands gently on the orc's muscled green chest. He could feel the orc's heart racing. Was it fear, or from his own injuries?

"The bandages are enchanted. In addition to stopping pain, they will also increase the speed of the healing process." Taylor explained as he gently wove a strip of bandage around the orc's middle, one hand still carefully keeping steady on his chest.

Nazgrim waited and watched the human...no, Admiral Taylor...work. The human's hand felt far different than he'd imagined. He'd thought all humans were weak, fleshy creatures. This one's hand had strength, calluses from holding a sword for many years, and...scars. Scars likely gotten from orcs like Nazgrim. Maybe even from Nazgrim himself. He vaguely remembered seeing Taylor in Vashjir, a long time ago.

"Taylor...Hellscream would kill me if he could see me now. 'Better dead than touched by filthy Alliance hands!' he would say." Nazgrim started to laugh, then stopped in pain.

Taylor snorted in amusement. "I think the King would kill me as well. Helping the 'green monster' that kidnapped his son? Oh yes, Varian would have something to say or do about it."

Nazgrim grunted. "It was nothing personal against the lad. I know Hellscream would have rewarded me if I had turned up the King's son. Maybe with another promotion."

"Really? Well, I can assure you that King Varian would have made sure the only promotion you got was as a head on a pike in his keep. The King is quite protective of his son. Do you have children, General?" Taylor watched the orc's face for some response.

Nazgrim shrugged. "Once. A long time ago. They are dead now. Killed by...humans, of course. Same with my mate. I joined with Hellscream on promises of vengeance. Now...I'm not so sure. To me, it seems humans can be just as varied as orcs. Not all of you are honorless orc-slayers...after all, you're helping me."

Taylor felt a pang of sadness for the orc general. So that was why he disliked humans so much at first. "I have no children, nor a wife. Perhaps I was always afraid that orcs would slay them." The last part was said as a joke. The Admiral was becoming more and more comfortable with the orc then he had been. Nazgrim was shockingly easy to talk to.

"Hmph. Why would anyone want your children? They'd be no one important. The children of a random alliance officer? Hellscream wouldn't reward me near as much for anything of yours as he would for the human king's son." Nazgrim gasped slightly as Taylor deliberately tightened the last bandage particularly hard.

"There. You're done, orc. You'll heal just fine. You have to." Taylor gave Nazgrim an almost pained look. "After all, if I can't kill you, no one can."

Nazgrim grinned up at the Admiral. "Same here, Admiral Taylor. Hellscream be damned. I'll be the one to kill you. No one will take that way from me."

The two very odd friends smiled suddenly at each other. The atmosphere in the room was visibly lighter. They could have sworn they felt the departure of a dark presence.

Above the inn, a powerful manifestation of the Sha of Doubt hovered invisible. It was quite certain it's will would be strong enough to force a battle here. Perhaps it hadn't used enough power.

_You've used enough power. Your power can't overcome theirs. Mine._

The Sha of Doubt shimmered out for a second, startled by the sudden voice. What was this? The Sha sent out a few Doubt entities to examine the area. Nothing that it could sense. Nothing it could feel.

_You can't find what you are incapable of feeling, Doubt. _The odd, feminine voice seemed to laugh.

**What are you, to set yourself against Doubt? Against the greatest of all the Sha? The conflict between humans and orcs give me power. The battle these two fought finally, at long last, brought me to full power, and you're saying I cannot have them any longer?**

_When the Sha were formed, they split into many, many emotions. Anger, fear, hate, doubt, sadness, violence...Y'Shaarj's death released many emotions. The monster with seven heads released seven Sha, but the Pandaren name only six. With the Emperor's death, the Sha went into Pandaria itself. You know this. You are a great Sha. Can you not guess what the last Sha represents? What Y'Shaarj didn't want released? What, in the end, will save Pandaria?_

**There is no saving Pandaria. The Sha will conquer it. I know naught what this seventh Sha is, nor do I care. When we reunite, we will be one again. Y'Shaarj will return.**

_Perhaps, but I will still be there. I will always be there. Where there is fear, anger, hate, doubt, sadness, violence...there is always me, waiting to be called upon, even when I existed only within one of the heads of Y'Shaarj._

There was a whisper of wind in the air. Flowery blossoms swirled in the air in front of Doubt, forming a silvery, feminine shape, made out of the flower blossoms from the trees, but endowed with the undeniable power of the Sha.

_Humans have an old story, similar to ours. A woman opened a box and released many evils, many dark things. The last thing in the box was the most powerful. The one that would be capable of defeating even the darkest and greatest of all evils. They called that entity Hope._


End file.
